A blog for the United States branch of the global Centre for Fortean Zoology

At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

The Illustrated London News in 1892 carried a story about a carnivorous vine in Nicaragua. It seized the dog belonging to a naturalist named Dunstan, but happily the latter freed the intended victim from its grasp. There are, of course, known carnivorous plants which will devour insects. This, however, is a far cry from those which eat dogs.

Carnivorous Plant

The first person to produce a study of such plants was Charles Darwin whose work Insectivorous Plants appeared in the 19th Century.

Thursday, 27 November 2014

Did you know that every Thanksgiving, the President officially pardons a turkey, which is not eaten and not killed subsequently?Did you also know that, as a substitute for turkey, vegans and vegetarians at Thanksgiving can have a tofurkey?

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Here's a pleasant creature from the folklore of Massachussetts. It has wings like a bat's, a face like a dog's and a long tail. Neither humans nor animals are safe from its attacks. It is rumored to be found in the woods near Chester, Russell and North Adams. Watch out for it if you're in the vicinity.

C. Rafinesque (1783-1840) reported this creature. He said it was seen in the Atlantic in 1818. It had 8 gills, its head was 2' in length and its body 56'. Presumably, with a name such as that, it had eight feet.

Rafinesque

Rafinesque himself was a somewhat extraordinary character, self-educated, fluent in Greek and Latin. There is some suspicion that he forged the Wallum Olum which claimed to be a traditional record of the Delaware Indians. Turning from the Octipos to the Octopus, this his a word that causes confusion in English when it comes to pluralizing it. The plural should be octopuses or octopodes (4 syllables), but not octopi. This is because it comes from Greek, not Latin.For the same reason, the correct plural of Hippopotamus is Hippopotamuses and that of Rhinoceros is Rhinoceroses.

2002: "Loveable trickster" Raymond L. Wallace, a
notorious Sasquatch hoaxer since the late 1950s, dies at age 84 in Centralia,
Washington. Surviving relatives try to cash in on his passing by spreading
ludicrous tales that he "invented Bigfoot" and that "Bigfoot
just died." To their everlasting discredit, most mainstream journalists
swallow and repeat the lie without even minimal fact-checking.

1964: A resident of New Berlin, New York, reports 12
humanoid figures see at a distance after two UFOs land on a hilltop. He claims
the entities appeared to be repairing one of the crafts for two hours.

1963: The mother of all political murder mysteries begins in
Dallas, Texas, with the JFK assassination. Countless conspiracy theories have
ravaged the Warren Report's whitewash, and yet few people realize that the two
main men behind the slaying—Mafia bosses Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante
Jr.—both made deathbed confessions to planning and executing the crime.

Even modern children will probably have heard, at some stage, of the Man in the Moon. He Has featured in the nursery rhyme which begins The Man in the Moon came down too soon. His smiling face has often been depicted.But what was the original legend of the Man in the Moon? In fact, there were a number. The Romans said simply that he was put on the moon for purloining sheep. In German tradition he was placed there as a punishment for gathering faggots on the Sabbath. The Germans also said there was a Woman in the Moon, exiled there because she made butter on a Sunday. Norse tradition spoke of Máni, which actually signified the moon, but sounded like the word man found in Teutonic languages and this may have helped build up the verbal combination of Man in the Moon. Coming behind him is the wolf Hati, who is destined to catch him at Ragnarok. Another North European tradition is that he captured two children called Hjuki and Bil. He was sometimes accompanied by a dog.In East Asian lore, the moon is tenanted by a rabbit.The Moon as seen from earth has numerous markings and it is only natural, especially considering its roundness, that the brains of those who gazed at it shaped these features into a face. From that, we can easily guess how the concept of a Man in the Moon was formed. For details of the nursery rhyme, follow the link below.now read on.....

This one is from the archives. In 1969 at Niles (Michigan) a car suffered attack from what was alleged to be a humanoid with feline characteristics. The creature thumped the car with clawed fists, breaking windows. Strange as it may seem, this is not the only report of such a humanoid.Equally mysterious is the Cat Destroyer. This creature, whatever it was, preyed on cats in the neighborhood of Sciotoville (Ohio) in 1888. It was seen by a Dr Bing, who claimed it was no known animal. The head had foxlike characteristics, while the color of the beast was dark brown.

Thursday, 20 November 2014

Such a creature, readers may remember, was encountered by Dr Dolittle, the man who could communicate with animals in the books of Hugh Lofting. However, such a creature has been reported in reality. It was reported in the Baltic Sea in the 16th Century.Certain features apart from size distinguished it from the average snail. It had paws and there were eyes on either side of its head.If you own a French restaurant and see this as a possible source of food, I would point out that it has not been seen in modern times, so I would advise against a hunting expedition. It has not been seen in recently and, even if a small population still exists, such an expedition would not alone be unprofitable, it would be execrable.

I have a strange suspicion this beast was merely made up. It is rumored to exist in the Ozarks. According to folklore, it is water dwelling and looks like a large mink. I mention it here because of its interesting name. Still, there may be a genuine cryptid here whose name was coined in accordance with Ozark tradition.